<p>Can we ship boxes to Furman before arriving on campus? We will be traveling from NJ and are thinking of shipping our son's belongings prior to arriving on campus in August. Will Furman hold on the packages we shipped until we can collect them on move in day?</p>
<p>Anyone have done this? Who do we contact to make arrangements?</p>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>We dealt with this issue on move in day last year so I can speak from experience since we also travel from out of state. Furman does not accept boxes in advance due to their limited storage. You have a few options:</p>
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<li><p>You can ship your boxes to a UPS store in Greenville and then pick them up on move in day. You can’t ship them out too early since these stores also have limited space but 5-7 days in advance should work. Make sure you call the local UPS store in Greenville in advance to check on their policy since each store has different policies and restrictions.
(please note that the UPS store closest to Furman is small and won’t hold shipments)</p></li>
<li><p>We flew to Greenville the day before move in day and stayed the night at a hotel. We shipped the items in advance directly to the hotel in and had them held. On move in day they just took the boxes out of storage and we loaded it into the rental van. It was easy.
We pretty much vacuum packed everything.</p></li>
<li><p>When I asked this same question last year, I was given the great advice to buy certain larger items such as comforters, etc. online at Bed, Bath & Beyond, Wal-Mart, etc. and have them held for pickup at the local Greenville store. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>No matter how much planning you do in advance, you are likely to end up at the local Wal-Mart, Home Depot, etc. to pickup something you forgot. In addition, your dorm assignment may also impact how much you bring since some are larger than others. Move in day was not the train wreck I had envisioned so don’t worry too much. Also, I received great advice
from this board on move in tips that helped us survive. Good luck and congratulations!</p>
<p>Great advise to ship to the hotel. Will call to see if they will hold. </p>
<p>Also, our son found this in the Furman FAQs in the New at Furman site:</p>
<p>Because storage space for advance shipments is limited, you are encouraged to bring with you as many of your needed belongings as possible when you arrive on campus. If you do need to ship items in advance, please address them to your name, c/o Facilities Services, Furman University, 3300 Poinsett Highway, Greenville, SC 29613. All items shipped in advance will be stored at Facilities Services and it will be your responsibility to pick them up when you arrive. </p>
<p>You are right about all the helpful advise in this forum from folks with previous experience. You can count yourself as one of them…Thank you.</p>
<p>They also had that notice on their web site last year about sending advanced shipments to Facility Services. I called but was told it was only for limited items. Also, that department was closed on the move in day so we would not be able to get your boxes until a few days later.</p>
<p>We always ship in advance to hotels. As long as it is a larger, established chain you should have no problem. We shipped out our boxes about a week before we left and had it held in our name as a guest. It is always a good idea to confirm with the hotel in advance. Again, good luck. It is an exciting time.</p>
<p>We are also from NJ and had the exact same question two years ago. I called to inquire about shipping boxes ahead and, although you can use Facility Services, it was clear that the school is not set up for this kind of thing. That is when we started asking around to the other NJ families and found that everyone we spoke to was driving their things down. We can make the drive in under 12 hours.</p>
<p>I absolutely recommend ordering as much as possible for pick-up in Greenville. BB&B and WalMart both have good programs for doing this. The closest WalMart to campus is in Travelers Rest, but I had many things sent to the Woodruff Rd. store because it is on the same road as BB&B, Target, Costco, Staples, etc. and we could do all our last minute errands in one place.</p>
<p>Hello all,
As the veteran of this process now over 3 years ago, one of the few items I would pack is the 3M tape that students use to attach items to the dorm walls. The year our kids moved in, this little gem was not available at any of the local Walmarts, Staples, etc. Also, try to bring the 3M hooks that hold so many things-they were also in short supply and very helpful in maximizing closet space. I envy those of you with kids younger than our-these years go by very fast. Oh,one last piece of advice: Furman now has a link to the bookstore that, if already listed, allows students to purchase books in advance. Our DS and DD found out that many times, professors either change their mind about texts or do not actually use the books listed. Good luck to everyone and enjoy this time!</p>
<p>BobbyCT - thank you; we will call our hotel on Monday to see if they can hold our boxes. Certainly will take your advise on that. Also, thanks for letting us know about the Facility Services not being open on move in day.</p>
<p>Grits80 - like you, we will be driving. We have our oldest and youngest daughters wanting to send off their brother so we are limited with space in our suv. Otherwise we can take everything down. Thanks for the advise on where to shop for last minute things needed.</p>
<p>Georgiatwins - thanks for the heads up on the 3M products. Will certainly pack them.</p>
<p>This is round two for us and it’s still as exciting.</p>
<p>Thank you all for all your comments and feedback. Good luck to all.</p>